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Scottish Sun
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
My dad supported me from day one… I'd like to honour his spirit by keeping going, says Billy Nomates on third album
Find out what inspired Billy Nomates to create a concept album about a dilapidated old funfair BILLY IDOL My dad supported me from day one… I'd like to honour his spirit by keeping going, says Billy Nomates on third album Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) THE idea for Billy Nomates' third album Metalhorse came after a 'personal and tumultuous' time in her life. Firstly, Billy Nomates — stage name of Leicester-born, Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries — was beginning to tire of the music industry circus. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 6 Making her new album has been an emotional rollercoaster for Tor Maries, who performs under the name Billy Nomates Credit: Supplied 6 The death of her father Peter helped Maries shape her new album Metalhorse, which is out on May 16 Credit: Supplied Then, just as she was about to start recording, her beloved dad Peter died from Parkinson's, a year after diagnosis. Both problems fed into Metalhorse — a concept album of sorts about a dilapidated old funfair. Maries explains: 'The concept came from feeling like I was in quite the fairground of life. 'It came from riffing on an idea that a chapter of my life, the industry I work in and politically, it felt like an absolute circus and I don't mean a good one. 'I felt like this fairground wasn't thriving and quite difficult to get on. Sometimes when you're on a ride and see the bolts are coming off you wonder if it's safe? I resonated with it and tapped into it.' But the big influence was the death of Peter Maries, who was hugely supportive of his daughter's work, last summer. 'It's not an option to wallow in self-pity' He died just before she travelled to Paco Loco Studio in Seville, Spain, to begin recording Metalhorse. 'He was the best dad I could have possibly hoped for,' she says proudly. 'He taught music but he was a quiet artist in himself. He found very beautiful things in life and in all the things he did. 'My dad supported me from day one and saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. And so to be here with what is my best work, it must be dedicated to him. 'I'd started the record before he died and he knew it was called Metalhorse — he'd heard demos so my soul was good with it. And it's very much dedicated to him and his memory.' Multiple Sclerosis explained Chatting to Maries in a video call from her kitchen she says she is thankful to have inherited a love of music from her dad and his advice is a constant. 'It's a gift he has given me,' she says smiling. 'And it's nice because it never goes away and it never turns down. Now he's gone, if anything, the volume of him is so loud — he's so present. He was the best dad I could have possibly hoped for. He taught music but he was a quiet artist in himself. He found very beautiful things in life and in all the things he did. 'I'd like to honour his spirit by keeping going. It's not an option to wallow in self-pity — it's time to do things. It's time to honour the life that he has given me.' Maries, whose dad was a massive punk fan, was inspired to start making music after seeing Sleaford Mods perform. She got the name Billy Nomates from a jibe after no one turned up to one of her early gigs. The singer was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. She says: 'I've been diagnosed with the relapse remitting type, and I'm on a course of treatment that works really well. So, I have a lot of hope.' The fantastic album closer Moon Explodes is a song written just after Maries had been diagnosed with MS. She says: 'It came off the back of a completely relentless year, and I was just thinking, this is just it. 'But getting the diagnosis made sense in a lot of ways. A couple of years ago, I started performing barefoot and people thought it was me trying to be all hippy and cool, but it was because I was losing my balance in shoes. 'I'd also noticed the dexterity in my hands occasionally would come and go when I was playing. I was relieved to be diagnosed, because, you know when something is up. 'Fifteen years ago, you'd be worried about becoming disabled but there's been a lot of advances in where MS medication is going and that gives me hope. 'Loved the idea of her being so fearless' 'Recently I was reading about the twin sisters Laviai and Lina Nielsen who won medals at the Paris Olympics with MS and I thought it meant the Paralympics but it was the actual Olympics. 'The only pressure of getting the diagnosis is that I need to stay super fit which I wasn't planning to do before my diagnosis.' Maries' positivity can be heard throughout the album Metalhorse. 6 The singer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis during the creation of her new album Credit: Supplied 6 Working with her hero Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers was a special moment for Maries, who talks of her late dad's love for the band Credit: Redferns Brilliant first single The Test is about 'working against the odds' and has been a huge radio hit. She says: 'The song is loosely based on Yvonne Stagg, a female Wall Of Death rider who I was reading about. 'She had a tumultuous life, falling in and out of love and was an alcoholic but she became very good at the Wall Of Death. 'I was thinking about her life in the 1960s when women didn't do things like motorbike stunts — there's the sound of a motorbike in the song — and I loved the idea of her being so fearless, but it was also a test of life.' Gorgeous ballad Strange Gift is another special song that brings hope. Maries says: 'I wrote that song when I was in Spain. I had a guitar and started strumming one night. Strange Gift was important to put on the album because I like how it made me feel. It's about what's left when people are gone "It was very much inspired by dad's passing and Metalhorse is about things crumbling and not being as they were. 'Strange Gift was important to put on the album because I like how it made me feel. It's about what's left when people are gone. 'I call it a 'strange gift' because you don't want it, you really want the person to still be there. 'But what you are left with is a profound understanding of life that wasn't afforded to you before. You can only get that on this side of something awful.' Another standout on Metalhorse is Life's Unfair, which introduces the second side of the album. New single Plans is, says Maries: 'Enjoying life because it is over too fast.' She adds: 'I like the idea that life is a ride and you're going to get off it at some point. Even though the world is awful, there's still those two minutes to get on a Waltzer and have fun being flung around. 'So, we must all fall in love, develop friendships and go wild as these things disappear from our lives quickly. It's important to grab a hold of those moments and go 'F**k it' — I'm going to enjoy myself.' A special moment making Metalhorse came when she got to work with hero Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers, who her dad had been a huge fan of — he was buried in a Stranglers T-shirt. Maries explains: 'I was in the studio and I told my producer James Trevascus that I was going to sing Dark Horse Friend in the style of Hugh Cornwell because I really love his voice and he's the voice of my childhood. 'Then someone said. 'Oh he's here tomorrow!' 'By the next day I'd written lyrics for him. 'He was absolutely lovely and it was so nice for him to sing on that track. We went for dinner afterwards so I think the stars were aligned for that track.' Metalhorse is the first album Maries has made as a 'band' working with drummer Liam Chapman and bassist Mandy Clarke. She says: 'I'm still very much a solo artist. But I worked with a band on this record. I still write and demo everything — I'm not ready to let go of that part yet and I still need to be in the driving seat for many things. 'But it was a great experience to share and to invite people in because whenever I'm creating something, there is very much a police line around me saying 'Do not cross'. 'I'm inevitably changed forever' 'But I allowed a few people to come in and I learned loads as a writer.' With the album released next week, Maries is looking forward to getting out and touring later in the year. 'I can't wait,' she says excitedly. 'It's been a long time coming. The album was written this time last year, so we've been waiting for this moment to get it out and get on the road. "We're going to be up and down the UK and Scotland and we've got European dates as well. I'm also performing on Later . . . With Jools Holland on May 25, which is cool. When you're first starting out, it's very important to be successful and to reach milestones but that's not what I'm about 'It's an honour to be able to play Later . . . as it's something I've watched throughout my teens and twenties and where I've discovered some of my favourite new artists. 'The last couple of years I've experienced life in a completely new way. Everything I've been through means I'm inevitably changed forever. 6 Metalhorse is the first album Maries has made as a 'band' working with drummer Liam Chapman and bassist Mandy Clarke Credit: Supplied 'I don't sweat the small stuff as much and I'm very clear about what I want to do as an artist. 'I want to write songs and make interesting work, and anything else is by the by. 'When you're first starting out, it's very important to be successful and to reach milestones but that's not what I'm about. 'Now I want to survive enough to keep making interesting work. And that's what Metalhorse is.' 6 Billy Nomates' new album Metalhorse is out on 16 May with a UK tour to follow in September and October Credit: Supplied BILLY NOMATES Metalhorse ★★★★★
IOL News
30-04-2025
- General
- IOL News
TEARS Animal Rescue seeks community support for Feed Hungry Pets Programme
Paco the dog after he was rescued from hunger and neglect and fed and taken care of Image: TEARS In a heartfelt plea for assistance, TEARS Animal Rescue, a non-profit organisation based in Cape Town, is reaching out to the community to help bolster its essential Feed Hungry Pets Programme. This initiative provides critical support to families in low-income areas who are grappling with the harsh reality of pet food insecurity. As food prices continue to rise, many families find themselves facing the difficult choice of feeding their pets or their loved ones. Unfortunately, it is often the loyal dogs who bear the brunt of this tough decision, while cats tend to rely on their instincts to hunt and scavenge—strategies that can be dangerous and insufficient in urban environments. This is not merely a story of neglect; it is a heartbreaking narrative of love overshadowed by economic hardship. This is what Paco the dog looked like when he was rescued by TEARS animal rescue Image: TEARS The Feed Hungry Pets Programme is designed precisely to address this urgent problem. It provides supplemental feeding that ensures beloved pets receive the nutrition they need to stay healthy and in their homes where they are cherished. Many families are faced with the gut-wrenching prospect of surrendering their pets when they are unable to provide adequate food; for these pet owners, letting go is a last aims to keep families together by tackling pet food insecurity, the leading cause of pet surrender in low-income communities. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ 'We're appealing to the public to help us assist these families and their pets,' said Mandy Store, Operations Manager of TEARS. 'We all love our pets, so we can imagine how devastating it must be to give them up or watch them go hungry. Supplemental feeding supports families who are really struggling and helps keep loved pets in loving homes.' TEARS's mission goes beyond mere sustenance; it also ensures that shelter space remains available for animals that are truly neglected and in dire need of rescue, treatment, rehabilitation, and care. By keeping loved pets in their homes, the organisation can focus on providing for animals that cannot fend for themselves.
Business Insider
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Joe's fate in the 'You' series finale and that 'cheeky' final scene, explained by the showrunners
Warning: Major spoilers ahead for season five of Netflix's "You." Joe Goldberg got the ending that he's long deserved. Netflix's hit thriller series " You," which stars Penn Badgley as Joe, a romantic at heart with a penchant for repeatedly murdering in the name of love, released its final season on Thursday. The 10-episode fifth season is a culmination of years of Joe narrowly escaping real consequences for his actions. But now, he's finally locked up for good thanks to the efforts of a new character named Louise Flannery (Madeline Brewer), a woman who dupes Joe into falling in love with her through a carefully curated persona known as Bronte. In a spoiler-filled discussion with Business Insider, co-showrunners, executive producers, and writers Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo explained Joe's fate and why death would be "too easy" a conclusion, why Badgley wanted audiences to see Joe at his "most horrific" in the bloody finale, and the "cheeky" way the last scene winks at fans' complicity. Michael Foley: Penn always gets an early draft and gives us his thoughts and sometimes jumps on the phone with us. He's very communicative on set in prep about the episode that he's filming. Obviously, he has such a great handle on his character that it is really just about honing in on things. But in this final season, the goal, as you hopefully witnessed in the finale, was that we see Joe Goldberg at his worst. And that was really important to Penn, that he was at his most horrific. He wanted to help us in our mission to have everybody stop and see him be so horrific that we all have to question what we just co-signed for all this time and sort of burst the delusion that he's a rootable hero. So, that was really important to him. That's why he's in his boxers in the rain and that's why he's punching a woman for the first time. We usually cut away from the violence. We just wanted it to get really nasty and awful. And he was very much leading the charge in that regard. He's like, do not pull punches with this guy. I want him in the end to just be a monster. Episode seven is when people finally start turning on him a bit, and we see characters from his past come out of the woodwork, like Annika, Ethan, and Paco. Who else was on your bucket list of people that you wanted to bring back, but it didn't work out? Justin W. Lo: I'm trying to think who else we wanted. I think we got mostly everyone we wanted to be in that montage. We did this thing in the writer's room where we put a list of people who would be pro-Joe, against Joe, and sort of neutral, and then we brainstormed what they would be saying about him. One of our favorites was Paco, of course, because Paco is pro-Joe, but what he says ends up screwing Joe over in a major way. So, that was one of our favorite discoveries. I was surprised not to see Jenna Ortega's character, Ellie. I feel like she would've been such a fun fit in there. Was she one of the people that you tried to get? Foley: That was complicated by the fact that she's doing "Wednesday" in Ireland and it just seemed like a non-starter. We just couldn't figure out a way to make it work. If Ellie was in that montage, what side would she have been on? Lo: Oh, pro-Joe [ laughs ]. Well, I think... hmm. It's a good question. It could have gone either way. You could make an argument for pro-Joe, because he was there for her during a very difficult time in her life. But you could also say, I think Ellie's very smart and she probably knows that he had something to do with her sister's death, even though it was Love. So she could have turned against him as well. Who came up with the idea for Bronte to shoot Joe in the penis, and what does that add to the punishment that Joe deservedly got in the final season? Lo: Greg Berlanti came up with the idea for the dick shot, and it was symbolic. Everybody, Penn, the showrunners, Greg, Sera [Gamble], we all wanted to make sure that Joe was taken down and no longer a romantic or sexual icon. And so that is the best way to do that. Couldn't get more pointed than that. In that moment when Bronte pulls the gun on him and he begs her to kill him, was he genuinely OK with dying at her hands in that moment, or was he just bluffing? Foley: She's suggesting that he's going to have to face what he really is, and that means he's going to sit in a courtroom, he's going to hear testimony of people who lost loved ones to Joe Goldberg, and that would break the delusion that he's a white knight and a good guy, and he couldn't handle that. So he was actually in that moment choosing death and hoping for death. And both Louise and we, the writers, thought that death was too easy, that we needed to put him in a veritable cage, and he needed to live on without knowing the feeling of a lover's touch, without his freedom, et cetera. Foley: The specifics of it, in terms of him being in prison and living, were things that we worked out pretty late in the final season. But in terms of him A) not getting away with it, B) not being redeemed, C) facing loved ones or people who he wronged, all of that was known early on, going into the season, if not a season or two earlier. We just didn't know the actual shape it would take. What was the conversation like with Penn when you mapped out the specifics of that final scene and his ending? Foley: There's a single line that Louise says to him, which is that "the fantasy of a man like you is how we cope with the reality of a man like you." That's the most important line this season for us, if not in the series, and he was a big fan of that line. He liked that it was the closest we were going to come to just sort of really stating our message, if you will. So yeah, we were all completely on the same page about Joe's condemnation, Joe's end. In the final scene, Joe's reading a creepy letter and he's still delusional and putting the blame on other people. It kind of felt like a little nod to the fans who thirsted over Joe this whole time, despite him being a murderer. What was the message you were trying to convey in that scene? Lo: We were trying to convey that Joe will never take responsibility for anything that he's done, that he always has to blame someone, and in this case, it's society, and he's speaking to us. It's a cheeky way to show that we have been complicit and he's turning against us in this one moment. We have been with him, in his voiceover part of his thought processes, in the whole series. And in this moment, he turns against us and blames us, the society, for creating him and for loving him. In the past, the female leads of the show have not fared well, but Louise, Kate, and Marienne all get their happy endings. Why was it important for the series to end with these women not being casualties? Foley: The entire run of the series, yes, there is Joe getting what Joe needs to get, in terms of killing for love. And then sometimes the killing can just seem bleak, and we want to entertain, and we don't want to lose our audience. And so it felt like with Kate, she had earned her absolution and her redemption, being willing to die by going back down to the basement to kill Joe. That's why we kept her alive, but it just didn't feel additive to kill. We don't want to kill people just for killing's sake. I would just say that Louise, in the end, keeping her alive was very important to us because we wanted the show to end with a woman's voice. Like, yes, we add this coda with Joe where he says, "It's not my fault, it's yours." But the real ending of the show is a woman having a voice and having agency, and Louise walking out of that bookstore and saying, "Joe Goldberg is not going to write my story. I'm going to define who I am." That was very important to us. Beck is such an important part of this whole season, and it brings the show full circle. What was it like pitching that to Elizabeth Lail and getting her back for a couple of scenes? Lo: The Beck storyline always brings tears to my eyes because it is so deep. And I say that Beck really got a raw deal in season one and she didn't do anything to deserve what she got. And she has been that symbol of innocence that got marred this whole series, really. So, it felt fitting to be able to give her justice. And that's why I think that the connection to Bronte was so powerful. You can feel it all through the season as soon as we learn the connection between them in that fifth episode. [Elizabeth] loved it. She was so excited to be part of the final season and she loves this character, too. So it was very meaningful for her to be able to be such a big part of the end of Joe Goldberg's story. Foley: I think it would've started to get repetitive and we would've been going to this same well in many ways, narratively. I don't know a single person in the writer's room who felt like, "Oh, if only we had one more season, we could tell this story or that story." I think we are really happy that we brought it full circle. Rarely do TV writer-producers get to finish the story. And we got to, we did it in a satisfying way, we got to bring it back to New York. So as a viewer and as a writer, I don't have an appetite for more, but it's only because I'm so sated. I'm very satisfied with how this story was told. Lo: I hope they're very satisfied. I see a lot of stuff online about like, "This show will have to end with Joe either in prison or dead." A lot of people are saying that, and so I'm really curious to see what they will think of the ending, which is, of course, he's not dead, but he is shot. And I guess there are some people who want him to get away with it. I am excited to see what they have to say the most, because we did not let him get away with it. Foley: We won't escape unscathed, and that's fine. People really hated that the character Love had to die. And guess what? I loved writing that character. I loved being on set with Victoria Pedretti, who's incredibly talented, but what was best for the story was where the story went. So, hopefully, if people can be objective, they could say this was the right way and the best way to end it. And if not, then all the power to 'em. This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Los Angeles Times
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘Los Frikis' captures the punk rock spirit of Cuban rebellion
Héctor Medina, star of the film 'Los Frikis,' thinks the Cuban spirit is punk rock. Released on Christmas 2024 and now available on streaming services, 'Los Frikis' tells the story of two brothers who secretly rock out to Nirvana as they try to survive the island's 'Special Period' in the 1990s. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba's economy went with it, having relied on the U.S.S.R.'s support. The ensuing shortages and rationing made everyday life extremely difficult on the island. 'Los Frikis' drops us into the middle of this scarcity. The movie's all sex, rock 'n' roll and rebellion, even as it deals with heavy stuff. It takes inspiration from the true story of the estimated hundreds of Cubans who purposefully injected themselves with HIV to gain access to government-funded sanatoriums, where there was food and even ice cream. The result is a devastating yet riveting work of historical drama. Medina plays Paco, a mohawked lead singer with a feral streak. To craft his character, the Cuban actor recalls how Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, who co-directed and co-wrote the movie, kept telling him: 'I want a wolf, I want a wolf, I want a wild wolf.' And that's just what he delivered, along with moments of tenderness. In an early scene, before anyone goes to the sanatorium, Paco kills a stray cat so he, his bandmates and his little brother can eat. As the younger sibling Gustavo, actor Eros de la Puente shows both hunger and heart as he agonizes over the death of a feline. 'There's a sense of maturity that young Cuban people have that's part of growing up in Cuba, because it's almost like a jungle,' De la Puente said over a Zoom call, adding that he had to go back to a time in his life to revisit that younger innocence. 'You need to learn how to survive and how to do things for yourself. And Gustavo doesn't really have that characteristic.' 'Los Frikis' only gets wilder after the cat meal — if not by destroying Gustavo's innocence, then certainly testing it in ways far beyond the typical coming-of-age tale. Paco doesn't grow so much as he exists as a force of nature. Adria Arjona, who most recently starred in Zoë Kravitz's dark thriller 'Blink Twice' (2024), as well as the romantic comedy 'Hit Man' (2023), rounds out the cast as a love interest to one of the brothers. Bringing Cuban history to life with sympathetic and compelling characters, 'Los Frikis' dramatizes how hard it was to survive in Cuba in the '90s — which is an important service, according to De la Puente. 'People have no idea what's going on in Cuba,' he said. 'Cuban people, basically just wake up to find food for that day, and that's a very sad way to live.' Medina, who was born in 1989, agrees.'The truth is that right now it's worse than [the] '90s,' he says. In 2024, hurricanes, followed by earthquakes, hurt the island's already aging infrastructure. Rations and shortages have increased. Blackouts are common. This political reality makes the story especially timely. Now based in Miami, Medina fondly remembers the real punks of the '90s, sharing the time when his uncle took him to a 'special place' that played only rock 'n' roll and where members of the counterculture gathered. 'They were good people, just different, people who were looking for freedom,' Medina says before recounting when, as a teenager, he got to meet the purported last, real Friki — Gerson Govea — who injected himself with HIV at the time and is still alive. 'I remember the mohawk, the black clothes, piercings, a lot of tattoos. He passed me a cigar and he talked to me. And I remember he was so protected with all the young people in that place. It was like a family.' That sense of camaraderie extended to the production of 'Los Frikis,' where several crew members sported mohawks to match the leading man, in solidarity with the community he represents. The production also fostered cross-cultural learning in other unexpected ways. 'I'm learning about my country through Mark and Tyler, who are two American guys — that's so funny,' says De la Puente, now based in L.A., who didn't know about this aspect of his nation's history before reading the script. 'I had no idea,' he adds. 'In the moment I read it, I was doubtful and I was like, 'This can't be entirely true.' So I rushed and I went to my grandma's house and into my dad's house, and I started asking them questions. And yeah, it was true.' The film will certainly start more conversations about what drove punks on the island to such lengths in the '90s — if people see it. The film got a limited theatrical release last Christmas Day, with screenings in Los Angeles and New York. It's now available to stream on Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV and more. When Medina is asked about his hopes for audiences seeing his movie, he makes clear how he wants to inspire them to take action in their own lives. 'I want people to think about freedom. Think about what people [are] capable to do for freedom,' he said. 'We need to think about the rock 'n' roll spirit. … We need to not be under control.'
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mt. Juliet's Jasmine Paco named The Tennessean Student of the Week for artists
The Tennessean asked schools from across Middle Tennessee to nominate their most artistic students for this week's student of the week feature. We got nominations for painters and sculptors and everything in between, but at the end of the week, there can only be one winner and your votes decide who comes out on top. This week, Jasmine Paco, a senior from Mt. Juliet High School, was the top student in our poll, securing more than 6,500 votes to secure the victory. Paco has always been passionate about art, her nominator wrote. She has always found a connection to all forms of artistic expression and upon entering high school, immediately joined the art club. It and Honors Art 3 have both helped her to experiment with new mediums while expanding her artistic range, the nominator wrote. Paco credits her experiences in the classroom for fueling an interest in continuing her education beyond high school. She hopes to attend college and major in art education, she said. 'I would love to get to be a part of someone else's journey and mentor others, just as my teachers have inspired me,' she said. Each week during the school year, The Tennessean asks Middle Tennessee high school principals, guidance counselors, teachers and staff to send us their nominees for Student of the Week. We then let you, the reader, decide who deserves the title by voting in our weekly poll Next week's poll will launch Monday and it will feature students who showcase the best school spirt. Voting will take place through noon on Thursday, Feb. 20. We believe everyone who gets nominated for our Student of the Week feature is a winner. Here are the other three students who were also in the running for this week's title: Arabella Baldassano, Rossview High School The senior is an artist who is talented in a variety of mediums including painting, drawing, fashion, and fibers. She not only crochets her own clothes but uses them as subject matter in her original paintings and drawings. Baldassano is the founding President of our National Art Honors Society and has just received a Regional Scholastic Art Award. She has received scholarships opportunities from various outstanding art schools throughout the country and her teachers are excited to see what she does next! Bethany N'Dri, Hunters Lane High School She is not only talented, but resourceful and dedicated to service. N'Dri is a member of the JROTC, Cross-Country Team, DECA, and Debate team. She is also enrolled in several art classes and full International Baccalaureate coursework. Ker Deng, Hunters Lane High School Deng is a talented artist whose passion and dedication to their craft has earned them prestigious recognition, including the Scholastic Gold Key Award and the distinguished honor of being an American Visionary Nominee. With an exceptional ability to translate emotion and storytelling into her artwork, Deng consistently produces pieces that captivate and inspire. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mt. Juliet's Jasmine Paco wins The Tennessean Student of the Week
